Difficulty sharing WinXP and Win7

The folder identified as "HTC EVO Photos" is a folder on my desktop (WinXP SP3 32bit). As you can see, I have allowed sharing on this folder. I have also allowed full access to it by Everyone.

I can see this folder and the contents from my Win7 Pro (64bit) laptop.

I can copy files OUT of the desktop EVO folder to the laptop.

But if I try to go TO this folder on my desktop from the Win7 laptop (drag anything or change/delete anything in the folder from the Win7 laptop), I always get the permissions needed error shown at the bottom of the image below.

WHY? WHAT else do I need to do to setup the correct permissions? It seems like Win7 wants me to set something but I have no clue as to what from the useless error message from Microsoft.

"Everyone" can be misleading, because it really means every account on the computer where you are creating the share, not everyone who decides that they need access to your share. Check the reply to this thread, it makes it clear and offers suggestions on how to overcome it. Probably the "oldest trick" is to keep an account with the same username and password on both.

"Everyone" can be misleading, because it really means every account on the computer where you are creating the share, not everyone who decides that they need access to your share. Check the reply to this thread, it makes it clear and offers suggestions on how to overcome it. Probably the "oldest trick" is to keep an account with the same username and password on both.

OK, I did not understand that about "Everyone". However, I don't want to enable Guest accounts on all computers to enable sharing.

I created a folder named TEST on the WinXP computer. I then allowed sharing on the folder. Next I went to the Security tab on the WinXP computer and tried to add the main account username from the Win7 computer that I want to have access rights. But of course, WinXP can't see the Win7 location and usernames, so it seems like I can't use that approach.

So is there a sane and secure way to enable full rights folder access between different computers (Win7 & WinXP in this case)?

Safe means using Windows accounts. Create the same account in both computers, using the same password and everything will be easy. If not, well, sorry, you need to get a Windows server, for centralized account management.

Alternatively, use Public sharing, admitting that everyone on your network can be trusted. That's not safe, theoretically, but works ok for private networks.

Safe means using Windows accounts. Create the same account in both computers, using the same password and everything will be easy. If not, well, sorry, you need to get a Windows server, for centralized account management.

Alternatively, use Public sharing, admitting that everyone on your network can be trusted. That's not safe, theoretically, but works ok for private networks.

I don't see how using the same account name and password on two different computers/OS's will make any difference. I still can't see the Win7 usernames from the WinXP machine, so how do I configure the Properties --> Security tab to allow sharing from the name on the Win7 computer?

Can you/someone point to some web tutorial on these networking issues where I can see detailed info?

I don't see how using the same account name and password on two different computers/OS's will make any difference. I still can't see the Win7 usernames from the WinXP machine, so how do I configure the Properties --> Security tab to allow sharing from the name on the Win7 computer?

Can you/someone point to some web tutorial on these networking issues where I can see detailed info?

Any computer will just accept a username and password valid on itself (or on a domain controller, if you so specify). Imagine that, the "Everyone" will effectively work!

I agree you may not see the difference, but that's the difference between you and me - you don't know how to do it, I am trying to explain it to you and I have actually done it. I have 4 computers running Vista, 7 and 8, all of them accessing shared folders this way.

Any computer will just accept a username and password valid on itself (or on a domain controller, if you so specify). Imagine that, the "Everyone" will effectively work!

I agree you may not see the difference, but that's the difference between you and me - you don't know how to do it, I am trying to explain it to you and I have actually done it. I have 4 computers running Vista, 7 and 8, all of them accessing shared folders this way.

I've always had problems with getting networking to work correctly. I am trying to understand it better when I ask questions.

I still don't understand what you are recommending.

If I have an account called "Bob" on the WinXP machine, I am supposed to create an account called "Bob" on the Win7 machine (which will mean porting all my existing settings to this new account and deleting the old account) and use the SAME password on both systems? Then on both systems, I have to share folders through the Share tab of the Properties dialog and then allow "Bob" access everything from the Security tab? Then when I am logged in as "Bob" on either machine, I will be able to access the folders/files across machines?

This will work just because both names and passwords are the same? And this was not considered any sort of major security problem by Microsoft?

There is not even any need to add any settings to the Bob account on the new computer. Just make sure than when you share folders you want to access from the XP computer, the Bob account can access those folders with the permissions you set. That's all you need to do.

Password based access works precisely like that - use valid username and password and you have access. Shouldn't it be like that?

How is accessing a given resource with a valid name and password a major security problem? Can you explain that? How would you do it differently then? How can that ever be worse than the "Everyone" permissions assignment, as you thought it worked earlier, where no passwords would be needed?

There is not even any need to add any settings to the Bob account on the new computer. Just make sure than when you share folders you want to access from the XP computer, the Bob account can access those folders with the permissions you set. That's all you need to do.

I am still not understanding what exactly I have to do to make this work.

What defines a valid account, not just on the W7 computer, but everywhere? A valid username and a valid password. As I said before, all you need, from the XP side, is an account with the same username and the same password as an existing account in the Windows 7 computer.

What defines a valid account, not just on the W7 computer, but everywhere? A valid username and a valid password. As I said before, all you need, from the XP side, is an account with the same username and the same password as an existing account in the Windows 7 computer.

Sounds simple! Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

My main account on the Win7 computer is named me#2 (pretty creative, eh? ). So following your instruction, I created a me#2 account on the WinXP computer with the same password. I then went to the Security tab of the folder properties for the folder I was using (Test (on the WinXp machine)) and gave full access to account me#2.

I rebooted the Win7 machine and logged off/on on the WinXp machine.

Then I went back to the Win7 computer and attempted to drag a Win7 file to the TEST folder on the desktop. But I got the same basic error msg as I originally posted: